The last AoT post the year on just another quiet Sunday. Peace reigns supreme, here, on my little earth place. Minimal plans for the day a little light gardening, as much as my injured shoulder can cope with. Have been having Physio and my range of movement is improving. Physio have given me a series of 5 exercises I have to do to get the muscle of shoulder an upper arm remembering what they are able to do in order to prevent “Frozen Shoulder” Sometime the pain is a good pain when the muscle moves and stretches and sometimes it is a bad pain when I feel/hear a graunching/grinding sound in my shoulder.
Today I chose Green Sencha Sakura Rose Tea and I had it in my Geisha teacup. A lovely light tea flavoured with cherry and rose petals. Engaging all the senses it is a delight to sight, smell and taste; touch is found in the smooth, warmth of the teacup and hearing in the pouring liquid gurgle from pot to cup. Tea is not just about making a cup of tea and drinking it. It is the accoutrements: the containers in which you store the tea, the rounded spoon to measure serving of tea, the tea pot, the teacup and the strainer to catch the leaves so they don’t float around in your cup. They all add a dimension to the experience of drinking tea.
Last week I added another dimension by creating a little seating area out my back door, inspired by the $5 cane table I picked up at the Hospice Op Shop. With the heat we have been experiencing in this first month of summer(it is equivalent of our normal February temperatures) it has given me a lovely little place to sit in that is shaded and captures the breeze. After work I make a pot of tea and sit quietly and let all the days tension slide away.
The days between Christmas and New Year hold a strange feeling of no-time, a waiting time. There is the frenzied build up of gift and food buying before Christmas. A frenzy that culminated in one day, everything is laid out on that day in the time spent with friends and family. A hurried catch up with people you may not speak to very often and that you may only see on that one day of the year. Then the day ends you return to your life and wait for the NEW YEAR as if this point of time holds a door open for change, the promise of something different. So what is the difference going to be for you in this coming year, for me nothing really will change I will continue my quiet and peaceful life with little things cropping up here and there that are dealt with at the time. Life just goes on a joyful experience engaging through spirit with everything that makes up my world.
Some thoughts for the in-between time from The Essential Rumi
“And you? When will you begin that long journey into yourself?” ― Jalaluddin Mevlana Rumi
“Be empty and weep with the fullness of the reed flute. Be empty and discover the mysteries of the reed pen.” ― Jalaluddin Mevlana Rumi, Rumi: In the Arms of the Beloved
Blessings to all who are reading this my farewell to the turbulent year that was 2017. In the in-between time see if you can engage with your inner self in preparation of new growth.
